Oral shedding of human herpesviruses in patients undergoing radiotherapy/chemotherapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is not affected by xerostomia

Figures & data

Table 1. Classification of xerostomia (Seminars in Radiation Oncology, ref 18)

Grade 0	Grade 1	Grade 2	Grade 3
None	Discreet symptoms,	Symptoms,	Severe symptoms,
	Without dietary changes	With significant dietary changes	Interference in diet, sleeping, speaking and other activities
		(necessity of liquid to swallow)	Tube feeding

Table 2. Sequence alignment for herpesviruses DNA

Primers
HSVP1	5ʹ-GTGGTGGACTTTGCCAGCCTGTACCC-3’
HSVP2	5ʹ-TAAACATGGAGTCCGTGTCGCCGTAGATGA-3’
VZVP1	5ʹ-GTCGTGTTTGATTTTCAAAGTTTATATCC-3’
VZVP2	5ʹ-ATAAACACACAATCCGTATCACCATAAATAACCT-3’

Figure 1. Degrees of xerostomia during the weeks of RT

Table 3. Oral shedding for herpesviruses EBV, HHV-7, HSV-1 and HHV-6 in each patient in relation to the period before radiotherapy (RT) and each week during RT

Blank spaces indicate negative cases. EB = EBV; H7 = HHV-7; H1 = HSV-1; H6 = HHV-6. P value for McNemar´s test, comparing ‘before RT’ with each week. Significant when p < 0.05

Figure 2. Frequency of oral shedding of human herpesviruses in the screening, along the weeks of RT, and one month after RT

Figure 3. Frequency of EBV oral shedding in accordance with degrees of xerostomia observed in the screening and in each week of RT

Figure 4. Frequency of HHV-7 oral shedding in accordance with degrees of xerostomia observed in the screening and in each week of RT

Figure 5. Frequency of HSV-1 oral shedding in accordance with degrees of xerostomia observed in the screening and in each week of RT

Figure 6. Frequency of HHV-6 oral shedding in accordance with degrees of xerostomia observed in the screening and in each week of RT